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You will fall in love with this crumb apricot cheesecake. Creamy cheesecake, topped with fresh apricot halves and encased in buttery crust. It tastes of summer!
For another summer-inspired cheesecake, take a look at our Raspberry Cheesecake Bars.
I get really excited when I get to share a recipe from my childhood. The one I am about to share with you is one of those recipes.
The first time I made it I was in my early teens and since then I’ve made it hundreds of times…literally! It was my mom and my go-to recipe when there was only about half an hour between a phone call and guests appearing on our doorsteps.
We made it so many times we used every kind of fruit filling possible. I thought we exhausted all the options but I was wrong!
I found myself with an urge to bake and a pound of farmer’s cheese. With perfect timing, I also found several recipes passed on to me by my mum!
The recipes were a collection of our family’s favourite recipes were sent to me when I left for college in America. Bingo! That’s exactly what I needed.
Still, even the most traditional recipes can be fun to play around with. What started out as my mom’s favourite recipe became highly experimental at some point of the process.
Fortunately it all worked out, and I was beyond pleased when I cut into my crumb apricot cheesecake and found out the risk payed off!
The original recipe was essentially a seasonal fruit encased in rich and buttery pastry. Somehow I ended up with a fruit cheesecake with a buttery crust and almond crumb topping. Pure luxury!
How to make Crumb Apricot Cheesecake
This recipe starts off in the This is an affiliate link.food processor where the flour, cold butter, sugar and baking powder are pulsed until the mixture resembles fine bread crumbs. Then add the egg and pulse again until just combined. It’s also really easy to do this in a regular bowl with a This is an affiliate link.pastry blender.
The pastry will now be soft and can be taken out of the food processor. Pinch off 1/3 of the pastry, wrap it in a plastic wrap and put in the freezer. Wrap the rest in the plastic wrap as well and put this portion in the fridge for 30 minutes.
Now let’s take care of the filling. Cut your apricots in half, take the pits out and set them aside. (I planned to also use red and black currants at first but changed my mind and that is why they are in the picture!)
Combine the farmer’s cheese or cream cheese, eggs, sugar, semolina and vanilla bean seeds in a large bowl using a hand mixer until smooth. You can also use a food processor if you want your farmer’s cheese to be less grainy. I processed mine in a food processor for a beautiful silky consistency.
Assembling the cheesecake
The pastry will be finished chilling after 30 minutes and can be taken out of the fridge. Roll it out to fit an 9″ This is an affiliate link.springform pan lining the bottom and the sides all the way to the top.
Don’t worry if your pastry tears, just take the overhanging pieces and patch up the holes! That pastry is very pliable and forgiving.
When you have finished lining the springform pan, put it back in the fridge for 20 minutes. Then take it out of the fridge and fill it with the cheese filling and top with apricots.
Now it’s time to get your crumb topping out of the freezer. In Russia this dessert is called “Tertiy Pirog”, which literally means “Grated Pastry”.
This funny name comes from the top pastry being frozen and then grated directly on the filling with a vegetable grater.
I decided to toss my crumbs with ground almonds for an extra indulgence. Trim off your overhanging sides and press them gently in to blend with the crumb topping. When the pastry casing bakes it magically all blends together beautifully.
Put it in the preheated oven at 350F/180C and bake for 50 minutes or until golden. Let it sit for about an hour or until cool to the touch. Then chill it in the refrigerator for at least 2 more hours to ensure the cheese filling in cooled completely.
Waiting for it was the hardest part for me! Dust with additional powdered sugar if you like a little bit of drama and enjoy with a cup of tea!
More cheesecake recipes
- Lemon Curd Cheesecake
- Rustic Plum Cheesecake
- Strawberry Meringue Cheesecake (No Bake)
- Burnt Basque Cheesecake with Raspberry Compote
Crumb Apricot Cheesecake
Ingredients
For the pastry:
- 300g / 2½ cups flour
- 250g / 1 cup butter
- 200g / 1 cup sugar
- 1 egg
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
For the filling:
- 12 apricots
- 500g / 16oz Farmer's Cheese, or tvorog/cream cheese
- 2 eggs
- 200g / 1 cup sugar
- 2 tbsp semolina
- 1 tsp This is an affiliate link.vanilla extract, or seeds from 1 vanilla bean
- 1/4 cup / 40g ground almonds, for the topping
Instructions
- In the food processor combine flour, cold butter, sugar and baking powder, pulse until the mixture resembles fine bread crumbs, add the egg and pulse until just combined. (This could also be easily done in a regular bowl with a pastry blender.)
- Take the pastry out of the food processor, it will be soft. Pinch off 1/3 of the pastry, wrap it in a plastic wrap and put in the freezer. Wrap the rest in the plastic wrap as well and put this portion in the fridge for 30 minutes.
- Cut your apricots in half and pit them. Set aside.
- Combine farmer's cheese or cream cheese, eggs, sugar, semolina and vanilla bean seeds in a large bowl using a hand mixer until smooth or a food processor if you want your farmer's cheese to be less grainy. ( I processed mine in a food processor for a silky consistency.)
- When the pastry is finished chilling take it out of the fridge and roll it out to fit an 9″ springform pan lining the bottom and the sides all the way to the top. Don’t worry if your pastry tears, just take the overhanging pieces and patch up the holes! When your springform pan is lined all the way put it back in the fridge for 20 minutes.
- Then take it out of the fridge and fill it with the cheese filling and top with apricots. Grate the the frozen part of the pastry with a vegetable grater and toss your crumbs with ground almonds (optional). Trim off your overhanging sides and press them gently in to blend with the crumb topping.
- Put it in the preheated oven at 350F/180C and bake for 50 minutes or until golden. Cool it for an hour until cool to the touch and then chill it in the refrigerator for at least 2 more hours to ensure the cheese filling in cooled completely.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Hi Julia,
Semolina for this recipe should be raw or cooked?
Thank you
Maria
Raw semolina here. Enjoy!
Thank you! 😉
Hi. I’m in the US and have never used semolina before. You said ‘raw’ to the question above so that confused me even more because I thought it was some sort of wheat. Could I replace the semolina with fine almond flour? I have a very full apricot tree and would love to try this recipe.
Hi Michelle, semolina is in fact coarsely ground wheat and what Italian pasta is made from. The reason I said “raw” is simply because the original question was “raw or cooked” and I had to choose one. Cooked semolina would be porridge, which many people from Eastern Europe eat for breakfast and I didn’t want the person to add porridge to the cheesecake. You can replace semolina with regular flour since it acts as a binding agent in the cheesecake. Almond flour does not have that ability. I hope this helps. Semolina is sold in all major supermarkets.
This was delicious. I made it with figs, though, instead of apricots as that’s what was available at the store when I went. They didn’t cook down much, if I make it again with figs, I would slice them thinner. Also, I got a much smaller layer of cheesecake. I may increase by 50% the recipe for that portion next time (and I used cream cheese). Also, it took about 10-15 minutes longer to bake. However, the recipe is easy and delicious.
Hello,
Two questions: 1) can you make this in advance (say the day before) and keep it in the fridge? 2) Can I replace the regular sugar with a replacement (say stevia or something like that)? I want to make this cake for a team meeting and I have a collegue that doesn’t tolerate regular sugar.
Thnx
Annick
Hi Annick, you can definitely make a day in advance and keep it refrigerated. You can also substitute sugar but you would have to work out quantities based on package instructions as they are all different. I find Splenda tastes closest to sugar. Good luck! 🙂
Hi
thank you for your recipe, I made it but after cooling, the crumb topping seprated from overhanging side 😞 what shoud I do to avoid this . if it is possible for you I would be glad to see your reply in my messages in instagram id 20_cuit 🙏🏻😊
Hi Maedeh, I’ve never experienced that issue, so it’s difficult to know what exactly went wrong since I wasn’t in the kitchen with you. Perhaps your fruit was too wet?
Hi vikslinka, at first thank yoy for your reply, what you mean that my fruits were wet? I used fresh apricots 😞I wish I could send you the pictures of my cook, maybe you could know better what the problem was.
Did the sides of the crust come up to the top, Maedeh? If they did, the crumb topping should’ve become attached to the sides as the cheesecake baked. That crust is similar to a cookie crust, which expands when baking as opposed to a pie crust that shrinks. Have you made any adjustments to the recipe?
I did exactly what ever you wrote on your recipe, first i poured crumb topping, then i trimed off overhanging side and attached to the topping, on oven it was so good but while cooling the top seprated from side
It’s best to cool it completely while still in the pan. That way the cheesecake will keep the structural integrity.
Instead of apricot caj we use peaches
Absolutely, I am sure it will be delicious with peaches!
This was delicious!! I added fresh blueberries and used the food processor’s medium grating blade to grate the frozen dough. What a great idea for a cheese cake topping. Thanks for the fabulous recipe!!
Thrilled to hear you enjoyed it, Marjorie! I adore this recipe that’s been perfected by generations of women before me. 🙂
Hi! I made this cheesecake after weeks of procrastinating, but I’m so happy I finally did it! It’s delicious, and a great use of apricots! Although, during baking, the cake started leaking apricot juice, I believe, and smoked up my kitchen, but it turned out fine, though, so I’m very happy you posted this recipe. Thank you!
Made it and loved it! We had the cake with friends and everybody enjoyed the taste.
The cake turded out really well – even without the eggs (my daughter is allergic).
It will be definetely a new favorite. Thank you for sharing!
Great to know that it tasted great even without the eggs! Thank you for sharing, Ria.